Residents` Bid For 4-way Stop Denied By City

October 16, 1988|By MARJORIE VALBRUN, Staff Writer

LIGHTHOUSE POINT -- Because there is not a problem with speeders or other traffic law violators, city officials won`t comply with residents` requests to put four-way stop signs at Northeast 36 Street and 28th Avenue.

``It is doubtful that any other traffic device will be placed there either,`` said Mayor Leo Bentz, who had the final say on whether the intersection should be regulated.

The city code gives the police chief power to direct all traffic matters and to determine where traffic devices should go, but the mayor must approve, Bentz said.

``I require that he conform with state and county traffic standards and to Lighthouse Point traffic standards`` to avoid lawsuits, Bentz said. ``...We don`t want to put signs on one street unless we put them on other streets that may have a similiar problem. We have to determine if any other streets have similiar problems.``

Bentz, an attorney, said it is more likely that the city would be sued for accidents at the intersection if it does not follow state and county standards or does not follow the recommendations of the county`s traffic engineers.

A Broward County traffic engineer, in a letter to Police Chief Paul Mannino, said he reviewed records showing the amount of traffic that passes through the interesection, the number of accidents and the incidents of speeding.

``An analysis of submitted data reveals none of the conditions exist which would justify establishing a multiway stop at this intersection,`` the engineer said.

Some residents said they think the liablity issue is an excuse.

``Liability is something to consider but then they use it as a way to spend more time talking about that then using the time to come up with constructive options,`` said William Amey, who with his wife, Julie, have been the most vocal in requesting the stop signs.

``I can show you spots where there are four-way stop signs that do not meet state standards. They talk out of one side of their mouths and then do nothing,`` said Amey, who lives in the 2900 block of Northeast 36 Street. ``We don`t give a hoot what they do anymore. I just decided to quit fighting city hall. ``

In 1987 Amey led a petition drive to get speed humps put on the street. Forty residents signed the petition, but city police said the speed humps were not needed.

In a report to the mayor last month Mannino, said a solution would be to post 30 mph signs on Northeast 36 Street and continue high visibility enforcement and use of decoy cars. He also suggested using ``speed checked by radar`` signs and recommended that the county inspect and comment on all city stop signs that do not meet county standards.

``It only takes one speeder to kill one ederly person,`` said Amey. There are six houses on his block where the residents are in their late seventies and eighties and one 90-year-old man was afraid to cross the street with his blind wife because of the speeding, Amey said.